Unexpected Love
by violetnovice
Summary: AU where: Chloe and Max kept in touch and they both go to Blackwell, (Rachel Amber keeps trying to set them up), Victoria sort of developed a conscience at the last moment and didn't post the video of Kate, and Warren "borrowing" Brooke's drone before he even meets her(resulting in a epic prank feud 'cause Brooke is so damn salty). This is all their stories.
1. Cinnamon and an Offer of Tea

When I said _how could this day possibly get worse?_ I meant that as a rhetorical question, not a fucking dare.

Dares are immature anyways.

Thanks to Rachel Amber, I now had a convenient green tea bullshit latte all over the front of my blouse. How could anyone just trip on their own feet? Out of nowhere? It was almost like she did it intentionally.

I almost growl as Kate Marsh steps in front of me, cutting off my much needed escape attempt to my dorm room and violating my personal bubble. Then I forced myself to stop, because who the fuck actually growls? I smile coldly instead, and Kate, naive as she is, beams back with a genuine smile.

"Hi Victoria!" She says brightly. "How was your day?"

"Tragically boring." I say in my best "go away" voice. "And I need to get to my room, if you will excuse me..." I gesture to the door she was blocking.

"Oh actually, Victoria, I wanted to talk to you about the video." I freeze.

"That... In that case... Come in." I reach into my clutch for keys and attempt to unlock the door.

"It helps if you slant the key towards the left." I shoot Kate an odd look over my shoulder but I try it and to my surprise, it works. I step into my room wishing that I'd cleaned it a little more this morning, Kate slipping in behind me.

"Welcome to my humble abode." I mutter. "Please, take a seat and make yourself at home." She actually seems to take the advice and sits on my small white sofa. I sit down on the other end, cursing how small my sofa was and how uncomfortably close I was sitting to Kate.

"I just came here to say thank you for taking the video down. That was nice of you." Kate smiles at me, and I shift uncomfortably on the sofa. _Why else are you here?_

"Yeah... I'm sorry for putting it up in the first place." She's about to say something more, but I cut her off. "I'm really sorry, okay? But... If you're here looking for a return favour, or blackmail, or something-" I have to stop and cringe at my own lameness. _Good job, Chase. You were supposed to apologize without being bitchy._ Kate smiles, oddly serene and _(wow she does look like an angel when she smiles)_ that definitely means she has something up her sleeve.

"I suppose you could think of it as blackmail, but I'm also here to ask you to join me for tea on Saturday." I blink. _What?_

"I-I already have plans for Saturday." I counter. Lies. Kate giggles and suddenly the strong smell of cinnamon is washing over me, overwhelmingly, and my head's spinning _(that smells really nice surprisingly)_ in panic. _I can't sit in a nice little circle with all her friends when I'm the reason why her reputation is ruined. I can't sit there and bear the guilt. And why does she smell like cinnamon? Either she uses cinnamon shampoo or she's hiding a cinnamon bun in her ridiculously puffy hair._ Kate clears her throat.

"Well, in that case, I do have to blackmail you." What? "You'll come to the tea meet on Saturday or..." She considers for a second, and her gaze alights upon something just over my shoulder. "I'll tell everyone at Blackwell that you collect anime figurines." I whirl around, snatching the case off my shelf but there's a blinding flash and Kate shows me the picture on her phone. _Me, looking distraught and holding the cardboard box in both my hands, the figurine visible through the plastic viewing window._

"You can't do that, that's ridiculous..." I trail off because I realize that my voice is panicky and I'm still clutching the box like a lifeline. Swallowing nervously, I try to regain my composure and set the box down forcefully on the coffee table.

"Could you repeat what you said earlier?"

"Tea is at four thirty in my room." Kate stands up and opens the door, offering me a smile _(did my stomach just lurch no that's ridiculous)_. "I'll see you on Saturday." She slips out.

And with that, I'm left with unanswered questions and the lingering scent of cinnamon.

I can't help but giggle once I'm out of the room. Victoria had looked so annoyed when I intercepted her, and her eyebrows were scrunched together in that adorable but also slightly intimidating way.

 _A stain is one way to do it, Rachel. I guess I owe you one._


	2. Candid Camera

Max:

"Why look, an otter in my water." My eyes flew open to see Chloe leaning on the doorway, smiling that lazy smile that always made my heart go into overdrive. I sat up, the blanket cocoon falling from my shoulders, my head suddenly clear. Glancing at the time, I saw that it was seven PM. I'd been sleeping for two hours.

"Sorry!" I blurted. "I came to visit Brooke for some advice, and um, she had to leave for a date with Warren, and um, I was so tired I just crashed on the nearest bed, and, um-" Chloe laughed.

"It's fine! Happens to the best of us." She launched herself onto the bed and looked at me expectantly. "How was your day, Supermax?"

"Um, well, it was pretty long." The truth is, I hadn't been all that tired, until I went back to the dorm to visit Brooke for tech advice and spotted Chloe's bed in the corner. It didn't hurt that the bed smelled comfortingly like her, a mixture of leather and smoke and the mint air freshener in her truck. She raised an eyebrow.

"Is that it?"

"Um, yeah. I guess all the stress from procrastination and stuff is really catching up to me." That was true, Mrs. Grant had assigned a powerpoint I'd stayed up last night finishing.

"And you tell me to be responsible." Chloe let out a yawn, kicking off her boots and discarding her jacket on the floor. "I'm pretty beat, too." She grabbed the blanket cocoon I'd built. "Share the love, Caulfield." Confused, I let go of the blanket cocoon and lean against the headboard as she tucks herself in besides me.

"Chloe?" I flinch when she reaches up and pulls me closer. "What're you doing?"

"Sleeping, doofus." She yawns, to emphasize her point. "Why're you so tense? You look like a deer in the headlights." I swallow nervously. _Maybe because my massive crush is currently snuggling up to me like we're both still innocent tweens and isn't cuddling like this a couple thing?_

"L-like I said, long day. And Mrs. Grant assigns hard projects." Chloe's currently trying to burrow her way into my right side while trying find a comfortable position, and eventually just gives up and settles for sort of spooning me. I mean, we'd cuddled before, but that was five years ago, and Chloe seemed to have changed her opinions on personal space drastically since.

"Say, Max..."

"Yeah?"

"D'you wanna watch Blade Runner tomorrow? If you have free time?" Sounds like old times. We tried to have a Skype movie marathon once, using the tv on her side, but she threw her laptop during The Nightmare on Elm Street. Only Chloe would be scared by The Twilight Zone.

"You could come over at ten thirty and bring snacks. I'll provide the netflix."

"Hmmm. Can't argue with that." Her sentence trails off as she loops an arm around my waist. She still falls asleep really quickly when she cuddles. Soon, her breathing is even and I gently run my fingers through her hair. _She's so... Cute when she sleeps. Not angry at all. Just Chloe._

Before I know it, I've twisted a small, thin braid into her hair. _Revenge for falling asleep on me, lazy bones. Braids aren't exactly very punk rock._ I let my eyes close, enjoying the warmth pressed into my side. I hope Brooke won't be mad if I end up staying the night like this.

Rachel:

Brushing my hair behind my ear, I send yet another text to Chloe while tapping my foot impatiently. Seriously, Chloe, you promised that you wouldn't lose that pair of boots. You better not be hoarding them. I wait a few seconds longer. Forget it, I'm going in. I grab the handle to her dorm room and surprisingly it's unlocked. I see the boots on the floor, and I've already picked them up before freezing at the scene in front of me. Nice one, Price. Smirking, I unlock my phone and take a picture as I back out of the room. _They're so cute together._ I think gleefully.

Chloe:

When I wake up, Max isn't there, but the spot where she'd been sitting was still warm. Getting up, I flop into the office chair. Propping my feet up casually on the desk, I check my phone for notifications. I was getting a lot of Instagram notifications, apparently, since Rachel had tagged me in a photo. Probably something that wasn't even related to me that she just wanted to make sure I saw. Or maybe she really wanted to piss me off. I should comment on her post that she should stop tagging me in random posts. A few taps and I'm left gaping.

I'm sleeping peacefully in the picture, one of Max's hands is intertwined in my hair while we sleep and my hand is resting on Max's hip suggestively, not to mention the fact that I'm practically welded to her legs. Max's also sleeping, but her other hand is around my shoulder protectively. We look happy, content, and we're both sort of smiling in our sleep.

What... How did Rachel take this? I tap the picture, and I realize that Max's hands were wrapped around something that looked like a braid. Reaching up, I ran my fingers over my hair until I felt the braid and a small smile tugs at my lips. Leave it to Max to find such a dorky hipster way to prank me... But firstly, I need to yell at Rachel. Exiting the app, I catch sight of the caption and nearly choke.

"Rachel." I growl, standing up and pushing the chair back with a loud clatter. _You're so dead._

Max:

"Hey Max!" Kate greeted enthusiastically. I flashed her a smile and hugged her back.

"Hi, Kate. How're you doing?" A strange, knowing smile spreads over her lips.

"Well, Max, I feel pretty left out that you haven't told me about this... Development." I blink, confused.

"What development?" Kate smiles again, which was rather unsettling.

"Check your Instagram." So I do.

And I'm flooded with likes from a photo that I was tagged in.

I blink. Once. Twice. Thrice. Heat rushes to my face as I look up and stammer something, and Kate's watching me with a sympathetic look. I want to die of embarrassment. Or crawl into the ground at Rachel's caption.

 _They're so in love :) Wonder who's going to tell them..._

That's before I catch sight of Chloe's comment underneath.

 **Emoji_Assassin**

 **Rachel get your head out of your ass and stop posting stupid photos. We are NOT a couple.**

 **preservedinamber**

 **Oh, but you are ;)**

 **Emoji_Assassin**

 **Are you fucking with me NO EMOJI!**

 **preservedinamber**

 **I totally called it. Justin, you owe me money :D**

 **Emoji_Assasin**

 **Stop.**

 **preservedinamber**

 **You two look at each other with puppy eyes it's honestly disgusting and you're just in denial XD**

 **Emoji_Assassin**

 **Can we actually have a conversation that makes sense Rachel we are not in love I've told you this repeatedly**

 **preservedinamber**

 **You've also told me repeatedly that you think freckles are really cute and that her hair always smells like coconut mango shampoo, you have a crush Price just admit it ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡° )**

 **Emoji_Assassin**

 **This is ridiculous Rachel. And STOP FUCKING USING EMOJIS!**

 **preservedinamber**

 **I bet if I got you drunk you would admit a lot of things ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡° ) ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡° ) ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡° )**

 **Emoji_Assassin**

 **You sick little weasleshit.**

My throat is suddenly dry and Kate puts her hand on my shoulder sympathetically as she reads over my shoulder.

"This is ridiculous." I'm saying it to myself more than I'm saying it to Kate. Kate sighs.

"What's ridiculous is how much you two are in denial." My face is scarlet as she sighs. "You should go talk to her."

Later, sitting in my room, I'm still staring at the photo. Tentatively, I start to type.

 **ChoirofFuriesinWaterfalls**

 **rachel please remove this photo**

 **preservedinamber**

 **You two are really cute together you two will be the cutest couple ever**

 **ChoirofFuriesinWaterfalls**

 **... rachel we are not a couple**

 **preservedinamber**

 **You're not fooling anyone I have eyes I can see you checking out Chloe every time you're in the same room**

 **ChoirofFuriesinWaterfalls**

 **i do not think of chloe that way we are friends, and only friends**

 **Emoji_Assassin**

 **Aye, 'tis slander upon our good name.**

 **preservedinamber**

 **I speak only the truth :) And you said** ** _our_** **:)))**

 **ChoirofFuriesinWaterfalls**

 **rachel stop trying to be a matchmaker just because you sort of got victoria and kate together doesn't mean you can mess with us like this**

 **preservedinamber**

 ** _us_**

 **Your ship name is Pricefield from now on**

 **Emoji_Assassin**

 **WTF I can't date Max she's like my little sister**

Well, if one thing was certain, Rachel just helped destroy my last remaining hope that maybe Chloe felt the same. She thinks of me as a little sister. A child.

 **ChoirofFuriesinWaterfalls**

 **i thought i was your partner in crime not your kid sister**

 **Emoji_Assassin**

 **Shit**

 **ChoirofFuriesinWaterfalls**

 **you insult me, price**

 **Emoji_Assassin**

 **Sorry, mad max.**

 **Queen-Chase**

 **Lover's spat?**

 **Emoji_Assassin**

 **Fuck off Chase**

 **Queen-Chase**

 **Fuck you too**

 **fluffyrabbitsanddelicioustea**

 **Vic that's not nice apologize**

 **Queen-Chase**

 **Ugh, sorry**

 **preservedinamber**

 **whiiiiiiiiipped**

Rolling my eyes, I put my phone down and flop onto my bed to fiddle with the photos on my wall. A few minutes later, I hear her familiar knock. Two quick taps, one slow tap. She's the only one that knocks that way.

"Come in." She twists the doorknob and steps in tentatively.

"Uh, yeah. So... Blade Runner?" She has an adorable blush on her face, but I blink and remind myself that she just declared that she saw me as her sister. She stands there, fidgeting.

"You kept the braid." I blurt. Her hand shoots up to the right side of her head, where the braid flashes neon blue. She grins easily.

"Honestly, if I fell asleep on anyone else they'd draw a dick on my face. You gave me a hipster braid." I smile back.

"I'll give you another if you forgot about the snacks." Chloe laughs.

"Good thing I brought your favourite." She holds up a huge bag of pop corn _(Xxxtra buttery POP!corn)_ , the same brand that we used to get when we were kids.

"I guess you're pardoned." The smile stretches bigger when she beams back excitedly. It's always so easy to smile around Chloe. For some reason, I just feel... Lighter. Maybe Rachel was right, maybe we could be a thing.

She rips open the bag and tosses a kernel high into the air, catching it with her mouth. I reach for my laptop, and everything, for now, feels perfect.

Chloe:

Max is nodding off by the time the movie ends. Her head's tucked into the crook of my neck, and I shake her gently.

"Maxaroni? Wake up, I have to go back to my own room sometime before midnight." She raises her head and blinks sleepily up at me. _Fuck, that's cute._

"Midnight... You're supposed to do something at midnight..." She says.

"Are you thinking of Cinderella?" I smirk.

"Maybe." She smiles, and I'm suddenly aware of how close our faces are. _So close we could..._ I push the thought away.

"Okay, Max... Good Night?" I suggest, pulling back a little.

"Don't." She says, reaching up and pulling my head down. My eyes widen in shock and _is this happening?_ And her lips are so soft and I'm threading my hand through her hair like how I'd imagined a thousand times and she's gently tracing circles on my hip and I'm kissing back like my life depends on it.

Somehow she ends up pinning me to the bed and damn how did I not realize?

Finally, Max pulls away for air.

"Okay." She says in a small voice. "Definitely not tired anymore."

"Nope. Not tired at all." I agree, heart pounding at a thousand miles per hour. "Does that mean I'll be staying over tonight?"


	3. The Alarm started it

I ran, unzipped backpack bouncing against my back, my sneakers pounding across the floorboards. I'm going to be late to history. _Shit! Why did I sleep late? I swear, I should find some way to fix my alarm clock. Forgot Hayden broke yesterday. I'll take it to the repair shop on Friday. That's three days away..._ I scramble to the stairs, clumsily stumbling down and ducking around a few people. Spying the exit, I throw the door open and I leap down the stairs, until suddenly I see a orange blur going straight towards my head. Raising my hand on reflex, the object brushes past my hand and collides with my head.

Pain flares through my skull, and instinctively I cradle it between my hands, pressing hard at the new lump on the right side of my skull.

"Shit." I hiss through clenched teeth. "Shit! Shit!" Stumbling, I blink away the tears in my eyes and straighten up. The last bell rings. Well, now I'm screwed.

What hit me?

There's no one else in the area to throw anything at me. Slowly, I looked down, and my blood ran cold.

Oh no.

Lying at my feet was a fallen drone, resplendent in it's former glory. Gingerly, I bend down and pick it up. Turning it around, I inspect the damage I'd done.

 _HiFly drone, model B400 Evo? That's pretty expensive. But that's only because it has awesome range. The lens for the frontal camera is shattered... The antenna is snapped. And shit. It looks like the thrusters are damaged. I owe someone about eight hundred dollars now. Yikes. No way I can pay that back._

Looking around nervously, I put the drone inside my backpack, carefully arranging it so it wouldn't be jostled by my binders.

I'll find the owner later. For now, I need to get to History.

 _I should've installed another camera on the drone. If there was another one, I could've at least see who broke the frontal camera._ I sigh, and rub my temples.

"So, I was thinking that we could go over to the boys dorm and ask nicely." I say to Kate. "Everyone likes you, so they might give it back." The other girls in the War Conference nod, but Victoria looks displeased. Probably not willing to risk her girlfriend going into the line of fire.

"Fuck that." Chloe says suddenly. I glance over to see that she's stopped making out with Max(who's perched on Chloe's lap) for a second. She wraps her arms around Max like she's holding a giant teddy bear, and leans forwards, a shit eating grin on her face. Max shoots me an apologetic smile for whatever Chloe's about to say next. I continue pacing around the room.

"I say blackmail. We give them a message. If the drone isn't returned within a day, we rain hellfire on their asses."

"And how would you be planning to do that?" Victoria cuts in.

"Pranks." Chloe says, eager and drumming her fingers against Max's knee. "I already have a good one in mind. Most of the guys in the dorm gel their hair so much it crackles when they move. I say we put something in their gel bottles. They make Hayden buy it by bulk monthly, right? The next run is in three days. We could totally put some dye or glue or syrup or-" Chloe's eyes widen.

"We could buy liquid egg whites. They have it in a carton for some reason." It's a good idea, but it wouldn't get our point across effectively enough. I needed something more serious.

That's when Rachel speaks up, an evil glint in her eyes.

A slow smirk stretches across my face as she continues.

(If Max and Kate exchanged a helpless look of resignation at the immaturity of their friends, Brooke wouldn't have noticed.)

I stop and stare at the angry red message scrawled across the front of my whiteboard.

 _RETURN THE HIFLY BY TONIGHT OR YOU'LL REGRET IT_

 _-XOXO, Brooke_

An identical message is written across the other whiteboards. Gently, I wipe it off with the corner of my sleeve and try to swallow my guilt.

I ignore the message and hope for the best.

The next morning, I open my bedroom door a crack and smash three paper cups of water. I sigh. Shit. Maybe I should return the drone... Anonymously. Looking outside my door, I see that they've thoroughly covered the floor, and even the stairs with the paper cups.

In the middle of the corridor, Nathan Prescott stands with an expressions of unholy fury on his face. His feet are soaked, and his hair is patchy, little tufts falling out all over the place.

Wisely, I stick my head back inside and close the door.

The girl's dorm is drenched in candy blood the next morning when I wake up. The bright, unnatural red drips down my window pane. I sigh tiredly, and hope that I'd get the drone back before Friday, when I had to go to my part time job and wouldn't be able to supervise the pranks.

I wake up when the beeping starts. I shoot up in a panic, dimly realizing that it smelled like smoke. Groggily, I get out of bed and open the door to find the other guys, sleepy and bewildered and slightly panicked as the smoke alarm goes off.

It turns out that the smoke alarm malfunctioned, and there was no fire, but no matter what the technician did, the smoke alarm would not stop beeping. I didn't get any sleep that night, and consequently woke up regretting everything that had led me to this point.

I play geometry dash on my phone as I wait for the girl behind the counter to look up from tinkering with an old radio. She has blue and red highlights in her hair, glasses perched on the tip of her nose, and I'm pretty sure that the picture on her shirt is the Chemistry Cat.

I'd get a shirt with a better chemistry joke, but all the good ones argon.

"Hey." I say. She looks up for the first time in the eight minutes I've been standing here. "Nice shirt." She smiles.

"Thanks. Welcome to Arcadia Repairs. What are you here for?" I hold up my broken alarm.

"How much money and time would fixing this take?" She reaches out her hand and I give the Tardis alarm to her. She turns it around in her hands, and smiles. I blush and launch into an excuse.

"Yeah, it's a Doctor Who alarm clock. I'm not actually as big of a fan though, my cousin gave it to-"

"I liked the seventh doctor the best." She says, a smile twitching at the edge of her lips. "He seemed really light hearted, but his secret was anything but."

"The fifth doctor was my favourite one." I admit shyly. "He was sort of a big brother figure." She actually smiles this time.

"Come pick it up on Sunday at five." She says. "It'll be ready by then. Fifteen dollars is your estimate." I grin back.

"Okay, thanks." As I turn to leave, I catch a glimpse of her name tag. _Brooke_. My heart sinks.

"Actually..." I start. She raises an eyebrow at me. Sheepishly, I reach into my backpack and pull out the drone. Her eyes widen, and she looks like she might try to kill me when she spots the broken thruster and cracked camera lens. And then she sees the snapped antenna and I take a step back.

"Um well... Bye." I say, and flee.

I'd contemplated messing with his alarm, but I decided my job was worth more then that. Max also talked me out of it, and told me the guy's name. Warren Graham. The one that smashed my drone. When he walks through the door to the repair shop on Sunday with a sheepish look, I stand there and stare at him stonily. He looks down. I slide his Tardis alarm across the counter and he flinches.

"I owe you a lot..." He says quietly.

"Yes, you do."

"Um, I know I can't really begin to repay it... But I will. I owe you somewhere around eight hundred, right?"

"Eight hundred and seventy three dollars." I correct him.

"Oh." Looking at his dejected puppy dog face, I feel something in my heart melt, and I decided to take pity on him.

"You can start with buying me a cup of coffee." He looks up, hope written across his face.

"Really?"

"Really."

Warren ends up bringing Brooke cups of coffee during her afternoon shifts at Arcadia Repairs for the rest of the year, where he would sit and talk with her while they waited for customers to come in.

When Warren asks her to the prom, Brooke agreed on one condition. He wore a badge reading _adorkable drone smasher_ on his tux the entire night.


End file.
